Another bus trip, this time a bit more civilised from the border upto Bangkok a city of 10 millon people. Having our view of Thailand coloured by Lane the taxi driver saying that they call the Cambodians dogs, we drove through large sugar cane fields, rice fields and Rubber plantations. Field size was much larger, there was mechanisation, cars and lorries. Farming seemed modern and there has been a 22% increase in the export value of agricultural products in the last year.
Could this be the future for Cambodia? Similar land, weather and positioning, if the infrastructure was mended, when large farms are created by the Chinese it may be create a wealthy farming economy. Is that a bad thing industralising those subsistance farms? It would create cheap food, jobs and allow the country to grow. The sad reality seems to be that it will happen, although the Cambodians seem to have a strong sense of identity that they are trying to preserve. Idealistically I would like to see the country be allowed to grow and mend itself, but too much interest is being shown from the developed world and although Cambodia has very little in the way of minerals it has a rich source of timber and soils.
We learnt of the great poverty of the countryside that is being ignored, the need for education in a country where a school teacher earns less than a factory worker ($60/month for the teacher $80 for the factory) and the ability of a people to survive the most horrific things and be grateful that they have a second life. Most of all I left remembering the smiles and happines of the children that have so little but are the future of this fantastic country.
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